Local and regional governments as employers

At the social dialogue meeting of local and regional governments held today, CEMR and EPSU agreed to submit to the European Commission a joint reaction on possible EU action on fair minimum wages.

CEMR and EPSU support upward wage convergence and shared economic prosperity across the EU, gender pay equality and sustainable funding of social protection systems.

However, we think that any EU action must ensure that wages, as a general rule, are autonomously agreed by or with national social partners. No member state should be required to introduce a statutory minimum wage system and any other conditions should only be introduced when they are proposed by the social partners at national level, including associations of local and regional governments.